Typical cases for personal computers generally are either of the horizontal desk top variety for being placed in a horizontal orientation on a support surface such as a desk top, or of a vertical tower type design that are for being placed in a vertical orientation on a support surface, for instance on the ground such as below a desk. With the desk top models, the input keyboard can be placed on top of the case with the monitor adjacent thereto either on the case or on the desk to conserve desk space. As is apparent, this presents a fairly bulky and inconvenient arrangement.
In an effort to address this problem, desks have been provided with retractable computer supports which can be extended out during use and retracted back under the desk for storage to keep the case and keyboard off the desk top. However, this solution can be unsatisfactory in that the support has to be robust enough to support the weight of the case, and there has to be sufficient room under the desk to accommodate both the case and keyboard on the retracted support. In fact, what typically occurs is that the desk top case is placed on the ground somewhere close to or beneath the desk so as to remove it as an obstacle on the desk top. Placing these desk top cases flat on the ground makes drive bays of the case much more difficult to access due to their close proximity to the ground. Accordingly, users tend to turn these desk top computer cases on end so that the other end having the drive bays adjacent thereto is higher off the ground providing better access to the bays and any drives therein than if the case was laid flat on the ground. In this regard, vertical tower cases have been developed which are specifically designed to be placed in an upstanding vertical orientation with one of their ends in engagement with the ground and with their bay or bays, and any associated drives situated towards the top of the case so that they are better suited than the desk top cases for being placed on the ground under or around a desk.
While removing the computer case off of the desk and placing it on the ground solves the problem relating to insufficient desk space, it still creates other shortcomings in that the bays that are provided in the case either equipped with drive units or adapted to removably receive drive units therein for mass storage devices such as floppy disks, CD roms, and tape drives are made more difficult to access. This is true even in desk top cases stood on end and vertical tower types of computer cases which are normally no higher than two or three feet tall. Thus, depending on what the case placement dictates, the user will still need to reach below or around their desk or move their chair or get up and walk around to remove, replace, or exchange these devices in the drives in the case bays. Accordingly, there is a need for a computer case that allows it to be placed in a location other than on the desk top and in particular on the ground below or around the desk while still permitting for easy access to the bays and the drives that are in the case bays. In particular, it is desirable that those drives that are dedicated to devices that are interchanged on a frequent basis such as floppy disks and CD roms be made more accessible than they are currently when they are in drives in bays formed in a case that is placed on the ground.
As mentioned above, the cases for personal computers usually have bays for receiving disk drive units therein. These bays have an access slot through which the disk is slid in and out of the drive unit attached in the bay. As such, the front of the drive unit including the access slot is exposed and visible on the exterior face of the case which can create an undesirable aesthetic appearance as the bay and associated drive interrupt the continuity of the front face of the computer case. In addition, the drive unit may often be of a different color than the remainder of the case contributing to an overall appearance of the case that is less than appealing. A more serious problem is that with the case placed on the ground, either open bays or access slots of the drives placed in the bays are now no longer raised on a desk surface requiring the user to reach down to insert disks into the respective drives in an inconvenient fashion.